Pre-Paid Maintenance Plan

[cwik]

I just took my BRZ in for its first oil change. At an import car meetup last weekend, other BRZ owners asked if I had the maintenance plan and I couldn't recall.

After looking at all of my papers, I got the "gold warranty" or whatever it was, but that does not cover maintenance (only things that break). After a lot of back and forth with the finance and service department, I *finally* got the maintenance package. Turns out the dealership doesn't like to sell them (since they lose money on it), but the service department hasn't got that memo yet. They basically said they're trying not to sell them anymore, claiming that Seattle drivers don't drive far enough to make the plan worth it before it expires. The funny thing is that the service department said it doesn't expire! But that could be my dealership only.

I'm not trying to sell anyone on this plan, but if it's something that interests you and you weren't made aware it when buying the car, check it out. If you deem that it's worth it for you, get it before 7,500 miles, otherwise you'll be SOL.

Also, make sure you have this settled before your first oil change, otherwise you may have to pay for that out of pocket. My dealership (Carter Subaru in Ballard) was really awesome though!

[Blackforge]

Luckily here my dealer included a 2 yr/36,000 mile maintenance plan with the purchase.

[DeepHunta]

yeah, I bouth pre-paid maintenance. Chaplins said the time does not expire, only the miles. 3 years/36,000 miles (so the 3 years means nothing; only the 36,000 miles is the limiting factor).
@cwik: How many miles did you take in your car for the first oil change? I've been wondering. Is it 3000 or 7500 miles?

[pinoyplaya]

Do you guys have to get the maintenance plan at the place/dealership where you bought the car? Or can you buy it at any Subaru dealer? Also, whats the cost on it?

[cwik]

@cwik: How many miles did you take in your car for the first oil change? I've been wondering. Is it 3000 or 7500 miles?[/QUOTE]

I brought it in at 3000. I think if I was over 7500, they would have denied me.

Originally Posted by pinoyplaya

Do you guys have to get the maintenance plan at the place/dealership where you bought the car? Or can you buy it at any Subaru dealer? Also, whats the cost on it?

I did end up getting it at the dealership where I bought the car. At first they said they flat-out don't sell it, and after asking if I can get it elsewhere, the story switched to saying they *can* sell it but it generally doesn't pay off, and then it switch to it not paying off for *them*. Hope you have more luck getting information than I did.

Depending on the years & mileage you want covered, it ranged from $600 to $1200 or so. Calculate your miles/$, talk with your service department to see what gets done at each of those maintenance checkpoints. Aparently the pure synthetic oil will run us a bit more than the average Subaru oil change.

From what I recall, I saved less than 10% by buying the maintenance plan which (theoretically) could be used for other investments, but the fact that any cost will be covered (under the gold warranty plan and now the maintenance plan) for the first 3 years without me having to pay another penny is good peace of mind. For others, that may not feel like a wise decision.

[Zaggeron]

My car came with the complimentary 2 year scheduled maintenance. I don't know if it is a Subaru thing or just my dealer. The actual scheduled service in the service booklet that came in the owner's manual package says the first oil change is at 7500 -- there is no "r" in the 3000 mile interval box.

My complimentary service includes these three oil changes:

7500/15000/22500

I hope the service department knows that the car shipped with synthetic and doesn't try and charge me extra for synthetic during my oil changes

[thermobox]

Yep, I got all the dealer "bs" as so many of my customers think. I extended my warranty out to 6/75k and got the furthest out Service plan at 45k. I wanted to get at least to 60k but they didn't have it available.

The Service Plans will always save you money.

[Chauntalei]

Yeah, I extended my maintenance plan to 3/36, and I got the extended warranty out to 6/80. Taking mine in tomorrow morning for the first oil change, at 3080 miles currently.

[Zaggeron]

Originally Posted by thermobox

Yep, I got all the dealer "bs" as so many of my customers think. I extended my warranty out to 6/75k and got the furthest out Service plan at 45k. I wanted to get at least to 60k but they didn't have it available.

The Service Plans will always save you money.

I dunno. They talk about inspect this inspect that, but all they do is change the oil. You're likely not going to need anything but oil changes through 45k -- there's not really anything to even lube any more in modern cars ...

[poudre]

Originally Posted by Zaggeron

I dunno. They talk about inspect this inspect that, but all they do is change the oil. You're likely not going to need anything but oil changes through 45k -- there's not really anything to even lube any more in modern cars ...

+1

[reeves]

How much are you paying for the maintenance plan? I never put much stock into those plans.. just figured it's better to change the oil myself and save the $$ for other things.. To those who got it for free with your BRZ purchase though,

Since the Dealers aren't making much money off these "oil change-type maintenances", they try to shuffle people in and out as quickly as possible, which can (and have) resulted in alot of mistakes/oversights, including 1) Over/under-tightening the drain bolt.. 2) Not putting the engine oil cap back on.. 3) Putting the wrong TYPE of oil in the car.. 4) putting the wrong filter on the car.

I've heard enough horror stories about dealerships messing up "simple" maintenance, that I wouldn't trust my car to them. They actually seem to do better (or focus more at least) on the "major" repairs, since that's where the money is. But I hope it's all good for whoever takes their cars there.

[cwik]

Originally Posted by reeves

Since the Dealers aren't making much money off these "oil change-type maintenances", they try to shuffle people in and out as quickly as possible, which can (and have) resulted in alot of mistakes/oversights, including 1) Over/under-tightening the drain bolt.. 2) Not putting the engine oil cap back on.. 3) Putting the wrong TYPE of oil in the car.. 4) putting the wrong filter on the car.

From my interactions, finance (who is losing money) and service (who does the work) are on 2 completely different pages, with different priorities. The service department seemed very responsible, and double checked everything (especially because mine was the first BRZ they'd done an oil change for). Nothing but good comments so far.

[Zaggeron]

Originally Posted by cwik

From my interactions, finance (who is losing money) and service (who does the work) are on 2 completely different pages, with different priorities. The service department seemed very responsible, and double checked everything (especially because mine was the first BRZ they'd done an oil change for). Nothing but good comments so far.

Since it it a brand new model, I actually think they are going to be careful with them -- at least for a while

[switchlanez]

I complained to SOA about my dealer botching up some numbers on my sales contract. I got the contract fixed and SOA threw in the 3 year/36k mile maintenance package for free!